Spider-Man 4: Brand New Day hints at return of beloved MCU character

We finally just got an update regarding the next Spider-Man film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and said update seems to be heavily implying that a beloved (and currently deceased) character might be making a return in the fourth Spidey movie.

The 2025 Las Vegas CinemaCon kicked off yesterday with Sony’s panel, which featured several new tidbits about some upcoming Spider-Man features.

Alongside some new images and a release date for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, Sony also revealed that the next MCU Spider-Man film finally has a title: Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

We didn’t get too much info beyond that, although Tom Holland did take to the stage to offer a little update on what we can expect to see.

“I know we left you with a massive cliffhanger at the end of No Way Home,” Holland revealed, “So Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a fresh start.”

The comic buffs among you may have already noticed that the “Brand New Day” part of the title is actually a little bit of a hint towards what we might see in the fourth film however, because it’s a direct reference to a specific arc in the Marvel comics.

Much in the same way that some elements of the arc Spider-Man: One More Day were adapted for the third MCU Spidey film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, the title for Spider-Man: Brand New Day also shares its name with a comic book arc by the same name.

This is particularly interesting because the Brand New Day comic book series came directly after One More Day… and One More Day, much like Spider-Man: No Way Home, also featured the death of Aunt May.

Thunderbolts* is next in line for the MCU.

The Brand New Day comic arc featured the resurrection of Aunt May, which kind of implies that Sony and Marvel are planning to do the same thing in the film.

Now there are a few issues with this theory. First things first, it’s kind of way too obvious. Anyone even vaguely familiar with the comics will see Aunt May’s return coming from a mile off.

The main issue is that everyone forgetting Spider-Man is Peter Parker and Aunt May coming back from the dead are a result of one another in the One More Day arc in the comics, following Spider-Man’s deal with Mephisto.

Considering Doctor Strange’s spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home didn’t actually bring anyone back from the dead, that means that the fourth Spider-Man film would have to find an alternative explanation for Aunt May’s return.

That being said, the events of the MCU’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day is reportedly meant to run parallel with the events of Avengers: Doomsday, so it’s possible that they might be planning to bring back a multiversal clone of her.

Either way, I’d be surprised if she didn’t pop up somewhere in the film… but whether or not she’ll be sticking around permanently is something that’s still up in the air.